Familiars
Familiars are artificial creatures and constructs that slavishly follow and attend to their master. These are restricted to creatures smaller than an adult human (anything else would class as a servitor), and by their nature cleave to a single master unless instructed otherwise. Mostly, familiars do not possess any significant degree of intelligence and are trained or programmed to perform certain tasks on command. Familiars are either living creatures controlled by the mind of their master via arcane psyber neuro-implants or are cybernetic creatures controlled by voice or coded vox-signal command. Such slaved creatures are the strange fruit of ancient sciences and arcane superstitions, and the ownership and command of familiars utilise many technologies that the Machine Cult considers sacred. A trailing throng of bonded familiars is a sign of status both within the Mechanicus and the Imperium at large. Controlling Familiars In many respects, familiars function as other creatures. They have Characteristics, Skills, Talents, Traits and more. However, because of their servitude to their controller, they require special rules. Familiars are controlled by their masters through the use of simple commands. These are generally single words, short sentences or the equivalent, and so giving a command is generally a Free Action. At the GMs discretion, the familiar may have to succeed on an Intelligence Test to interpret a contradictory or complex order. Should a master come under attack, the familiar automatically moves to its master’s defence, attacking the assailant unless it receives specific instruction (or possesses an instinct) to the contrary. Upon completing a task, the familiar returns to its master’s side unless it’s received prior instructions or some other instinct applies. Creating a Familiar Familiars can be based on a wide number of living creatures, bio-constructs or pure automata. The easiest way to handle this is to create one by taking a creature from the Animal and Vermin list (Chapter XII: Aliens, Heretics and Antagonists of Dark Heresy) and applying one or both of the following modifications that follow. Servo-skulls and cherubim are very particular kinds of familiar common to the Adepta of the Imperium, and are dealt with separately. Cyber-Creatures Cyber-familiars are semi-intelligent machine versions or cybernetic adaptations of living creatures controlled by a master, loyalty to whom is hardwired in the creature’s brain. Some cyber familiars are created as assistants to serve prominent adepts and the Mechanicus, or merely as amusements for the wealthy, while others are fitted for war with implanted weapon systems and all manner of crude but effective augmetics. Modifications: Any bestial creature of Scrawny Size or less may be upgraded into a cyber-familiar and is subject to the following changes: • The creature gains the Machine (2) trait and +2 Wounds. • The creature’s natural attacks no longer count as Primitive. • Increase the creature’s Strength and Toughness Characteristics each by +5 and decrease Agility by –5. • Very heavily augmented cyber-creatures intended for combat (or with little or no living tissue left), increase their Machine trait to (3 to 5) and gain the Fearless talent. In addition, if their creator wishes, they also lose the Bestial trait. The cyber-creature may also have numerous items of equipment or weaponry implanted within their bodies just as a human can, such as a respirator, auspex or gun (see Cybernetics on page 153 in Dark Heresy). Specific programming or systems that duplicate the effects of pertinent Talents, Skills or Traits to use such devices can be included by means of cortical implantation. If a cyber-familiar ever suffers from a failure of four or more degrees on a Willpower Test or suffers a Critical Hit to the head, there is a 50% chance for its programming to break down catastrophically and a debased form of its organic mind will take over. It then goes mad, savagely and randomly attacking everybody and everything in its path until it is destroyed. †These costs are in addition to procuring the creature and any extra specialised equipment or abilities to be implanted (double usual item prices). ††Only appropriate Basic Skills and Talents can be installed in cyber creatures (any prerequisites must also be met). Berserker-Chip Also known as “lobos” and “butcher-jobs”, these devices are surgically imbedded in the creature’s brain. When triggered, the chip sends it into a near uncontrollable bloodlust and frenzy, backed by heavy doses of combat drugs pumping into its remaining organic tissues. These chips are activated either by a command word or signal sent directly to the beast. Creatures under the influence of a berserker-chip gain the Frenzy talent (triggered instantaneously by codeword or signal from its master). While the implant is active they also gain temporary immunity to Characteristic Damage and Stunning (although they will suffer the effects as normal once the chip is shut off ). The chip is deactivated again by a command word or signal, after which the creature takes 1d5 levels of Fatigue. Unfortunately there is a 10% chance each time the chip is used that it fails to deactivate, leaving the creature in an uncontrollable, frenzied state (although after a few hours the creature dies in any case from overexertion and shock). Example Familiars: Cyber-mastiffs are usually deployed under the control of Adeptus Arbites or enforcer units to bring down recidivists and heretics. Shaped in the form of a hound made of metal and guided by the brain and nervous system of a hunting creature, they are a fearsome extension of the Emperor’s law, and a truly terrible sight to see unleashed. Cyber Mastiff Profile Movement: 4/8/12/24 Wounds: 8 Skills: Awareness (Per +10), Concealment (Ag +10), Silent Move (Ag +10), Swim (S), Tracking (Int +20). Talents: Double Team, Fearless. Traits: Armour Plated, Brutal Charge, Enhanced Senses (Smell), Machine (4), Quadruped, Size (Scrawny). Weapons: Bite (1d10+3 R). Armour (Machine): Head 6, Forelegs 6, Body 6, Hindlegs 6. Gear: (Implanted) IR vision implant, filter plugs. Psy-Bonded Familiar A psy-bonded (or psyber) familiar is a living creature bonded to its master by arcane technology. Interface circuitry in both familiar and master (called a psyber-lure) allows the creature to be directly and precisely controlled, with the master having access to the sensory experiences of the creature and able to give it instantaneous commands at great distance. Owing to the idiosyncrasies of the little understood technology, usually only small non-sapient creatures can become psy-bonded. The creature must begin with both the Bestial trait and a size of Scrawny or less. The range at which a character can influence a psy-bonded creature is equal to their Willpower Bonus in kilometres, although local conditions might limit this drastically. A creature may be given both the Cyber and Psy-Boned upgrades. The cost of this implant is included in the cost of the familiar but note that the character will need to follow the rules for attaching implants (see page 153 of Dark Heresy). Modifications: Increase the psy-bonded creature’s Intelligence and Willpower Characteristics each by +5. Also, the familiar gains +1 Wound. Special: A character with a Psy Rating of 2 or more treats their Psyber-familiar as a Psy-Focus and can extend the effects of their relevant psychic abilities to affect their psyber-familiars by increasing the target number of the power in question by +2. Psyber-Eagle Psyber-eagles are created as gifts from the Adeptus Mechanicus to the grandees of the Imperium. Within the Calixis Sector, most famously, Lord Hax himself is accompanied by a pair of psy-bonded eagles of prodigious size and splendour, gifts from the Mechanicus Fabricator-Lords of the Lathe System. The eagle’s circle above him in the vast vaulted halls of the Lucid Palace, their eyes those of their master scanning from on high. Psyber-Eagle Profile Movement: 2/4/6/12 Wounds: 6 Skills: Awareness (Per +20), Concealment (Ag +10). Talents: Swift Attack. Traits: Bestial, Flier 8, Size (Puny). Weapons: Unarmed (1d10–3; Primitive) Category:Gear